Matthew Rose

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Introduction

In the 2015/2016 season Matthew Rose makes his debut at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Baron Ochs Der Rosenkavalier, and sings Raimondo Lucia di Lammermoor for the Royal Opera House, King Marke Tristan and Isolde for English National Opera, and Bottom A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Glyndebourne Festival.

In concert he has appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, BBC Proms and the Mostly Mozart Festival, New York. His engagements include the LSO with Sir Colin Davis, Harding and Tilson Thomas; the Los Angeles Philharmonic with Dudamel; the Dresden Staatskapelle with Mackerras; the BBC Symphony Orchestra with Sir Andrew Davis, Belohlávek and Minkowski; the LPO with Nézet-Séguin; the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Dutoit; and the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia with Pappano. This season he appears with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Nézet-Séguin and at the Vienna Konzerthaus and Heras-Casado.

His recital appearances include the Brighton, Chester and Cheltenham International Festivals, and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall, and the Kennedy Center, Washington.

Already a prolific recording artist his solo recordings include a critically acclaimed Winterreise with pianist Gary Matthewman and Schwanengesang with Malcolm Martineau, both on the Stone Records label.

Press

"A magnificent ensemble of singers could not be bettered – a vindication, if such a thing was needed, of Glyndebourne’s extensive rehearsal period and superb working conditions. Christine Rice has never have done anything more deeply felt than her heart-rending Lucretia, caught between Duncan Rock’s struttingly macho yet weirdly vulnerable Tarquinius and the simple honesty of Matthew Rose’s Collatinus."

"I’ll stick my neck out and predict that the next world-class bass is already among us. Now in his late 30s, Matthew Rose is hardly a tyro, but he still gets referred to as ‘up-and-coming’ despite a CV that reads like a name-dropper’s charter."

"...here, with the pianist Malcolm Martineau, with whom Rose first sang the cycle in 2004, he ensures clear textures, sensitivity to the words and a lightness and variety of touch."Please click the link below to read the full review. The Observer, Fiona Maddocks, 11 January 2015

"English bass Matthew Rose shows that a deep voice and low keys need not make for a gloomy experience in Schubert."

"Alession Arduini and Matthew Rose were also excellent as Schaunard and Colline, respectively. The two were a tremendous joy to watch, but were also a major reason why the fourth act tragedy was so touching. It is often hard to remember that this is not just a tragedy of lost love for Rodolfo and Mimi. When the other characters have such real relationships with one another onstage in the Café Momus, the viewer is reminded that this opera is also about friendship and the loss of it. Thus Colline's famous aria "Vecchia zimarra" had greater profundity. Rose sang the passage with his fascinating bass which resounded through the theater in a way few other singers could do in this aria. It was moment of unreal pathos."

"Back at the garret, the opening of Act IV found English bass Matthew Rose (Colline the philosopher) and Italian baritone Alessio Arduini (the musician Schaunard, in his U.S. debut) at their dancing, dueling best. With less capable Bohème casts, all too often, Colline and Schaunard seem to get the shaft, but both Rose and Arduini proved hard to ignore once on stage."

"To complete the impeccable group of Bohemian friends, ready to give up all their belongings, even to take literally the coat off their back, was the magnificent bass Matthew Rose as Colline, who gave an unforgettable and touching version of the famous aria “Vecchia zimarra.” His physical presence making him quite noticeable, Rose has the gift of a marvelous voice and obviously of a great technical training, since his performance was flawless."

"Beethoven uses his four soloists very much like a semi-chorus and Lucy Crowe, Jennifer Johnston, Michael Spyres and Matthew Rose made a very fine ensemble indeed. The four formed a finely balanced quartet, whilst each had distinctly characterful individual voice, with Lucy Crowe plangent and radiant, Jennifer Johnston straight toned and highly communicative, Michael Spyres fine grained Italianate sound and Matthew Rose's wonderfully trenchant delivery. Each had impressive solo moments, but it was the way their ensembles came together in a highly expressive and fluid way which impressed, full of beautifully shaped phrases and firm toned line."

"Playing golf fits rather nicely into my schedule as an opera singer. While I'm away doing a production, there are a lot of days in between performances where I can get in a round. Recently in Bordeaux, for instance, I managed to play golf two or three times a week. Wherever you go in the world, you can find a nice course to play on, and there are also like-minded people in opera I play with - Bryn Terfel, in particular, is a very keen golfer....."

"Among British singers, perhaps no bass has come nearer to perfection in his portrayal of Christ than Gwynne Howell. Making even the somber authority of his singing a component of an affecting vulnerability, bass Matthew Rose rivals Howell’s heroic but refreshingly human performance. Mr. Rose is a Christ who sounds genuinely hurt by the accusations he faces, and there is an acutely emotive suggestion of weariness in his performance. This is a Christ unafraid to express doubt, fear, and uncertainty—and, thus, one of very personal charisma and relevance. In ‘Stecke dein Schwert in die Scheide,’ Mr. Rose’s Christ seems stung by Peter’s violence: his admonishment is disquieted rather than scolding. Throughout the performance, Mr. Rose looks beyond the obvious qualities of Bach’s characterization of Christ, bringing an individual interpretation that proves fascinating. Vocally, not one note of Christ’s music is beyond Mr. Rose’s capacity, and he encounters no technical challenge that he is not capable of meeting. When the voice must move, Mr. Rose reveals considerable flexibility, and his lower register is rich and unforced. Critically, however, he creates a thoughtful, winningly masculine Christ who ultimately is all the more extraordinary for in so many ways being just another man. He is the perfect musical and dramatic partner for the Evangelist of James Gilchrist."

"Matthew Rose, as well as being a driving force behind the project, took on the role of Elijah and was suitably authoritative, with extremely clear text and subtle shaping of the recitative sections. ... Once again, Rose was heartbreaking in the masterpiece “It is enough”

It can be said that tonight's performance lived up to the Times' review of the première – “a triumph”."

"From his first utterance, ‘I rage, I melt, I burn’, Rose filled the auditorium with a rich and profoundly satisfying sound.

Both fearsome and grotesque, in this opening accompanied recitative and throughout the opera he conveyed the essential complexity of the role: are we supposed to laugh at the lovelorn ogre whose gauche compliments and endearments fail to impress, or to protest at his vicious, petulant cruelty which shatters the lovers’ harmony? Probably both; and, in the following aria, ‘O ruddier than the cherry’, Rose conveyed the immensity of the Cyclopean monster’s burning love for Galatea and his fiery hatred for Acis.

Ian Wilson’s delightfully sprightly recorder obbligato reminded us of Ovid’s humorous depiction of Polyphemus as a ferocious goliath who plays an outsized set of shepherd’s pipes! Polyphemus is the dramatic catalyst, disrupting the Elysian bliss, and Rose’s ferocious interjections in the peaceful duet, ‘The flocks shall leave the mountains’, brutally shattered the lovers’ calm avowals of constancy and steadfastness.

Curnyn and his performers were justifiably radiant as they acknowledged the appreciative and heartfelt applause. This was a fantastic, engaging performance with not a single weak link. A fabulous evening."

"Matthew Rose had stepped in at the last minute to take on Polyphemus, and there is no finer giant around today, as those who heard him sing the role at Covent Garden will know. You can't help but sympathize with this hopeless lover, whose compliments never quite hit the mark, and 'O ruddier than the cherry' was gruesome perfection." Melanie Eskenazi / Music OMH / 28 November 2013

"Matthew Rose’s booming bass and keen comedic sense made Bottom’s efforts to take over all of the parts in the rustics’ play, his antics when wearing a donkey’s head, and his playing of Pyramus a tour de force from start to finish."

"More bombastic but no less impressive is Matthew Rose as Bottom. He dances and whirls about the stage as a donkey and sings with vibrant vocal power. His insertions of donkey sneezes during some lines brought the audience to hysteria every single time without fail and his final scene in the "play" performance is some of most incredible comic timing showcased at the Met opera in years."

"But the standout performances belong to the rustics, particularly Matthew Rose as Bottom and Barry Banks as Flute. The comedic role of Bottom, and the group of men as whole, verge on the ridiculous at times in terms of their physical comedy, but if anyone was bothered, surely Rose’s gorgeous bass voice would have more than made up for it. Rose never languishes in his sound however, as when Puck transforms him into an ass, he deftly infuses his voice with the occasional screeching and braying sounds and just the right amount of physical acting. In the final scene where the men put on their play for the royals, Flute and Bottom opposite each other as star-crossed lovers is a comic highlight."

The excellent Matthew Rose, playing Osmin – truculent, brutish, baleful – also handles himself well in a part with some very tricky moments, testing both his range and nimbleness. Kimon Daltas, The Arts Desk, 08 June 2013

Osmin is a part which sounds as though it had been written for Matthew Rose, so wonderfully does his voice plumb its depths and his characterization reach its absurdities. Melanie Eskenazi, Music OHM, 10 June 2013

Matthew Rose as Osmin, the disgruntled bodyguard fighting for Blonde’s attentions sang as he always does — masterfully, with a deep rich tone and a magnificent presence.

Melinda Hughes, Spears, 10 June 2013

The bass Matthew Rose is a wonderfully sonorous and malevolent presence as Selim’s henchman Osmin, who even kicks a member of his security detail in the groin. George Loomis, New York Times, 18 June 2013

Written for tenor voice, often sung by a baritone, it acquires - literally - added depth in this beautiful reading by the Grammy-winning British bass Matthew Rose, who sings it mostly a fourth lower that its original key. Schubert himself called them 'terrifying' songs and confessed to his own emotional exhaustion at having written them. Rose and Matthewman, while in full, expressive form, convey that sense of being utterly wrung out. Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 10 February 2013

Like Hans Hotter, Matthew Rose leaves one with a sense of a vast burden of suffering determinedly endured against appalling odds. Richard Wigmore, Gramophone (Recording of the Month), April 2013

I can’t name another singer who is more expressive and who invests the words with greater weight and meaning than Rose...The voice is powerful and dark but very smooth, and it never loses support or turns weedy on the lowest notes. Dramatic points—and there are plenty of them-are made less through varying the timbre of the voice than they are through variations in dynamics and by agogic (i.e., durational) accents. It may sound like a contradiction in terms to call Rose’s performance both poignant and chilling, but his ability to express heartbreak and horror simultaneously makes this, for me, the most compelling Winterreise I’ve ever heard. This may be Rose’s debut recording, but he’s no stranger to the opera stages of La Scala, Covent Garden, and the Met. His partner in this enterprise, Gary Matthewman, is an indescribably sensitive accompanist, responsive to every inflection in vocal line and making more of his part than many a veteran pianist in this extraordinary cycle. This gets my highest possible recommendation: five gold stars. Jerry Dubins, Fanfare

Rose embodies the Mephistophelean 'spirit of negation' - the star of the show. Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 24 June 2012

The triumph was Matthew Rose’s utterly compelling Claggart, sung with immense strength, colour and penetration, and superb in his Iago-like soliloquy explaining to himself why Budd in all his beauty must be destroyed. In fact, Alden’s directing of Rose’s Claggart was as virtuoso as anything he has done… a real tour de force. Tom Sutcliffe, Opera Now, September 2012

Matthew Rose's Claggart was strongly sung on ink-black tone. The last sentence of his monologue, launched pianissimo, was properly spine-chilling. Rodney Milnes, Opera, August 2012

"[Claggart was] brilliantly acted and sung by the bass Matthew Rose — decades younger than James Morris, the venerable artist who sang the role in the Met’s revival in May — the master-at-arms was pale and wide-eyed, seemingly shellshocked by the trauma of his own secrets. He emanated the anger that arises out of great frustration. Restrained and intense, Mr. Rose’s performance was as powerful and troubling a representation of the enervating effects of the closet — effects demonstrated by the resolute aloofness of Britten’s opera — as Heath Ledger’s in 'Brokeback Mountain'. Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 03 July 2012

The most provocative interpretation was that of Claggart, the corrupt master-of-arms, played by Matthew Rose, winner of the 2012 Critics' Circle exceptional young talent award. Delivering his vocal lines with unsnarling warmth of tone, he added complexity to the role, pacing back and forth in obsessive straight lines and suggesting a terrible, bottled-up hatred. For the first time you could believe that Claggart himself once possessed a similar, Billy-type "handsome sailor" beauty before life, in some unspoken way, betrayed him... Rose's Claggart alone is worth the ticket. Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 24 June 2012

In an impressive cast, no one is finer than Matthew Rose. As Claggart, one of his biggest roles to date, he present a chilling study in evil, dressed in a long leather coat and all the more powerful for his moon-faced impassivity. He sculpts the words with his dark bass-baritone. John Allison, The Sunday Telegraph, 24 June 2012

[Matthew Rose] brought vocal power and ominous shadings to his performance. Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 25 June 2012

Matthew Rose lends Claggart the impassivity of a sphinx, the physique of a wrestler and the snarl of a devil. Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 20 May 2012

On stage Matthew Rose was the star of the show: a granitic monster of a Claggart, vocalised with chilling authority. Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, 20 June 2012

...the master-at-arms John Claggart, dominates the stage, especially as chillingly sung by bass Matthew Rose...[his voice] so well-focused and perversely beautiful in tone that we hang on his every word. Mike Silverman, Associated Press, 24 June 2012

Matthew Rose's Claggart is terrifying – not for any obvious malevolence, but for the contained cruelty that his impassive presence projects, delivering his credo towards the end of the first act while fondling the neckerchief he has taken from Budd. Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 19 June 2012

Praise be for Matthew Rose, the pasty-faced nasty who was last night the saving grace of the leading roles…Rose is a perceptive actor with a richly expressive bass voice, and conveyed his malignant character (a Iago, if you like) with a still concentration in his body and sudden, arresting contortions of his mouth. The performance of the night. Ismene Brown, The Arts Desk, 19 June 2012

Matthew Rose gives a terrifying account of that meaty role; on the whole he is quiet, almost drugged, and he paces the stage slowly to creepy effect. Rose's voice is now richer than ever, so his evil 'Credo' has every colour and a vast dynamic range. Michael Tanner, The Spectator, 30 June 2012

By chance I had been to a recital by [Matthew Rose] in Cambridge of Schubert's 'Schwanengesang', the most impressive account I have heard of that difficult non-cycle for a long while. Rose is a true bass, who surely has a great future in the black Wagner roles, among others. Michael Tanner, The Spectator, 03 March 2012